In addition, Governor Haley Barbour, Mississippi and Chairman of the Governor's Association wrote a piece for the Washington Post appealing for "Fairness for Toyota".  Where is the fairness for the American families who have lost loved ones in the sudden acceleration of cars and it is not just in one model of Toyota but more.  Where is the fairness for those individuals who were so frightened by sudden acceleration but by some blessing were able to survive the threat without dying?

Governor Barbour points out how valuable Toyota is to America because of their investment in the U.S.  How about the U.S. citizens’ investment to help through tax abatements for Toyota so they can compete with the U.S. car industry in America?

Barbour's training in government is long and extensive but he should be ashamed of himself for attacking the government for bailing out GM and to imply in even the slightest that there could be favoritism for the American industry and we are picking on Toyota.  He stated, "Lawmakers must tread carefully lest they give Chrysler (under control of the Italian company FIAT) in which the government has a 10 percent state, or General Motors, in which the government now owns a majority stake, an unfair advantage.

The Governor also stated, "Although Toyota was founded in Japan more than 70 years ago, after five decades of doing business in the United States it is as much an "American" car company as any other."

No, Governor, it is not.  First, Toyota must make at least 60 percent of its world wide profits from North America (actually mostly from the U.S.) for them to remain profitable.  Nissan must make 74 percent and Honda 70 percent.  So, Governor, the Japanese auto industry has been very dependent on the U.S.  To remain politically profitable the Japanese government had a "weakened yen" policy and paid depending on what article you read from $2,000 or $4,000 to $12,000 or $14,000 per car to keep them profitable. 

So with your tax abatements and $5,000 credit for every person working at the Nissan plant and you stated you pretty much gave the same deal with a little more to Toyota, then you know that stated in their contract with the state the credit is to not pay taxes to the State.  Nissan also has that deal for its suppliers.  So the United States through its citizens in the State or through the Federal funds you tap into for them have every right to demand safety and obeying the law from these foreign car companies.  

The Talladega County Magazine Publication in September 27, 2002 carried a story on "New Industry" explaining that Detroit was losing market share.  "But America is a big winner as foreign companies turn the U.S. into the center of a global industry."  Surprise, Governor, we have been the center of a global industry and you have been helping with U.S. dollars to subsidize a foreign car company or companies.

The same article states "There's a lot at stake.  The U.S. auto market is by far the most vibrant in the world.  Every lost point of U.S. market share represents a shift of $4 billion in sales, indeed, nearly all of the record $8.8 billion in annual operating profit Toyota Motor Corp reported in May came from the U.S.  And that makes it increasingly important to base other operations here, too. 

Nissan Motor Co will build as many as 400,000 minivans, pickups, SUVs, and sedans at a new Mississippi plant starting next summer.  It already has a large engineering unit in Farmington Hills, Mich., which is in the midst of a $39 million expansion that will add 260 engineers and other technical workers.  And like all carmakers, it has a design center in California.  Says Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, "North America is the most profitable market in the world.  The mix of vehicles is rich and the richer the mix, the more your profit."

The Governor stated "Although Toyota was founded in Japan more than 70 years ago, after five decades of doing business in the United States it is as much an "American" car company as any other."  No, Governor it is not.  It works under the Japanese government policy and it is subsidized by the Japanese government with weakened yen payments.  In addition, if it is "as American" as any other car company then why when there is a bump in the road for the Japanese companies do you go to Tokyo to meet with people in the government?

It is time Governor, to quit writing about the Japanese company and what they are contributing and to stand up as an American and be concerned about the safety of the American people.  Look at the length of time there have been complaints to this company and they have ignored the pleas of the consumers to help them.  We would not have these hearings if they had been up front about the quality of their cars instead of turning out something that was not safe.  They have perpetrated the "Great Lie" on the quality of their cars for too long.  

Just hitting the internet is an article about an internal Toyota document "from July 2009 bragging about, "Wins for Toyota Safety Group" which stated "the firm saved $100 million by convincing the NHTSA (of the U.S. Department of Transportation) to limit an accelerator recall to 55,000 Lexus and Camry models."  This report was in July and it was one month later in August, 2009 that the California Highway patrolman Mark Saylor, and three members of his family, lost their lives when their rented Lexus suddenly accelerated to over 120 miles per hour and crashed into a tree and rolled over killing them.

Many Americans heard on the internet or over TV news programs hearing the family’s desperate call for help in trying to save their lives by explaining what the problem was.  If Toyota genuinely believes that the patrolman and any member of his family were not knowledgeable enough to try anything to save themselves, they are wrong.  The rented Lexus was flawed beyond repair and the Saylor family were the victims, just like Nissan did with their burning Minivans years ago which also cost Americans their lives.  We never did have an exact death count on the burned Nissan vans because the company flew the vans back to Japan in the "dark of night" to the tune of $20,000 a van to hide their seriously deficient technology from the American public.

How can Toyota call this $100 million "wins for the safety group."  Since when is deliberately leaving seriously flawed cars with inferior mechanical problems on the road and refer to it as safety?  If it were my family member or friend, or just anybody's friend, or an American I would not say that.  I would hold the company executives feet to the fire for putting money first and misrepresenting their technology to the American people and their government. 

Also included in the article is a statement "Many in Japan have voiced suspicions that the uproar over the recalls might be driven by political motives given the U.S. government's stake in General Motors Co. and its costly bailouts for the domestic industry". 

Again, the Toyota and Japanese executives are really eating their own seed corn.  They are wearing very thin the tolerance of the American people.  They come into the United States to use our taxpayers money to finance their industry and cheat with weakened yen payments to make their companies profitable and to hallow out American jobs and not be fair in competition.

Am1ericans know the importance of GM to the United States and if the Japanese believe that with their pseudo nation defense corridor which they have constructed along with Krupps and a free port, can ever replace GM and our auto companies, they are absolutely wrong.  Our military and the American citizens do remember what the American car companies did for us in WW II and every war since then.  Without them, there would be no freedom in the world and we will not forget it.

Our companies, and notice they mentioned just GM because Toyota cheated to become the Number One automaker in the world. The Chairman of Cerberus, which owned 51 percent of GMAC (which financed 75 percent of GM's dealers and providing financing for purchasing a car) raised the rates for leasing and finance to high that the article stated, "It took a big chunk of business from GM."  In other words GM lost sales from this maneuver and it was exactly at that time in 2008 that suddenly Toyota became Number One in the world.  Given the behavior of the Japanese and Terrasawa's statement in a New York City magazine that "we have no transcendental religious principles, we can be as immoral as we want to be to win the competition.  We can do whatever it takes to win."   

Defending this position for Toyota are high-powered lobbyists, workers in the Toyota plants, and anyone who can be of help to Toyota.

One article "Japan hopes Toyoda can burnish Toyota's image" stated that Japan is looking to Toyota president Akio Toyoda's appearance before U.S lawmakers next week to help burnish an image marred by a flood of recalls - and to prevent grievances of the issue from fanning broader political tensions."

Hallelujah, the Toyoda family has made money off of Toyota, since its founding, so God forbid that we do something to protect the lives of American citizens.  This is an outrage to complain about "fanning broader political tensions."

If it were not for the current Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood and his team and the insurance company State Farm we would still be in the dark while Americans were loosing their lives with sudden acceleration of their cars.  The California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor, who lost his life last August along with three members of his family, when his car accelerated over 120 miles an hour, must surely be in a special category in heaven for alerting the country to this threat.  We need to establish a memorial in his name otherwise this company will talk about the political problems and "gaining the trust of the American people" because they make quality products. 

Obviously, they do not make quality products because there are so many types of recalls and they are not sure any of them will work.  In the meantime, Americans who rushed to buy a Toyota are now taking a bath on their investment plus not being certain of getting home once they are in the car.  After all, these defects appear suddenly, sometimes when trying to park your car and one man ran through two fences and over a cliff with the result of his wife being killed while trying to park his car. 

The Congressmen who imply it is wrong to give U.S. taxpayers money to GM are "off base".  They should be ashamed of themselves.  First, they must stand for what is an American and what did our Founding Fathers try to create with the Constitution.  It is a country to govern and how we govern and what our laws are.  They should try being a policy maker instead of just running their mouths with rudeness and not carrying what happens to the American citizens they are suppose to help.

The first thing you must do in establishing a policy is to obey the law and the second is what defends and strengthens America.  Our American companies and values always come first.  How can they say that a company which participated in the attacks on Pearl Harbor and Americans is like being American?

It is time for all officials to stand up and be counted.  Representative Stupak is doing that and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood always passes the test of standing for America.  Where do you stand?

Mike Biras

mbiras64862@mypacks.net

Feb. 24, 2010